R. Kelly Sexual Abuse Accuser Wins Civil Lawsuit Against Singer: Report
Two months after being charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, R. Kelly suffers a legal defeat.
According to a report The Chicago Tribune published on Wednesday afternoon (April 24), Judge Moira Johnson granted a default judgment requested by Jeffrey Deutschman, the attorney of one of Kelly's sexual abuse accusers. The judgment was granted after the singer failed to file an appearance despite being served with a court summons to attend. Kelly could reverse the judgment if he gets an attorney involved in the suit.
The attorney for the accuser, who is identified as H.W., reported that she is one of four alleged female victims that accused Kelly of sexual abuse in February. Of the four accusers, three were under the age of 17 when the alleged abuse took place.
H.W. alleges that she met Kelly as she celebrated her 16th birthday in 1998, and claims that Kelly knew of her age. According to H.W., Kelly's manager gave her a business card with the singer's phone number on it. From there, Kelly and the then-16-year-old made contact despite her mother intercepting the card, and the two allegedly had sex once per month between May 26, 1998, to May 25, 1999.
This news arrives a month-and-a-half after Kelly was released from jail after someone paid off the $161,000 worth of child support payments he owed to his wife, Andrea Kelly. While Kelly has been a free man ever since, he still has the sexual abuse case ahead of him. If convicted on each of the 10 counts, R. Kelly could face 70 years in prison.
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